97.1 The River

[acheron1982]

Got some ideas on what they are up to? Been listening to them all weekend (usually a 100.5 listener). There doing blocks of songs from one band during the weekends. This has forced them to hand pick some of the deeper cuts that are not normally heard on The River. Now that they have added some additional songs from these artist, we need to get them to add some additional artist. Never hear stuff like Rush, Deep Purple or Jethro Tull. Classic "hit" formats in other cities dig deeper and are not afraid to get a little harder than the River. Still, got to give them some props this weekend though.

FYI- My Mother (big river fan) said she pulled 97.1 on her Honda Accord factory radio south all the way to Dublin Ga and could still get the station just 70 miles west of Savannah.

 

[acheron1982]

Got some ideas on what they are up to? Been listening to them all weekend (usually a 100.5 listener). There doing blocks of songs from one band during the weekends. This has forced them to hand pick some of the deeper cuts that are not normally heard on The River. Now that they have added some additional songs from these artist, we need to get them to add some additional artist. Never hear stuff like Rush, Deep Purple or Jethro Tull. Classic "hit" formats in other cities dig deeper and are not afraid to get a little harder than the River. Still, got to give them some props this weekend though.

FYI- My Mother (big river fan) said she pulled 97.1 on her Honda Accord factory radio south all the way to Dublin Ga and could still get the station just 70 miles west of Savannah.

Correction: 97.1 all the way to Dublin then a quick switch over to an oldies station.

 

[gregg75]

I find that if you take 100.5, the River and 106.7 you can usually find a decent
song on one of them. 106.7 is my favorite of the three though.

Add in B98 and 97.9 and you've pretty much got all the bases covered 95% of the time.

 

[CBMAN01]

Is there a true classic rock channel in the Atlanta market? When I flipped through, The River was the closest thing I could find.

(I’m not familiar with the area, but I was passing through town and was looking for a good channel.)

 

[jabba17]

For the past few weekends River has been doing "Rock Blocks", 2-4 songs by a single artist at a time.

River has been getting progressively harder and deeper--more AORish--over time, since they debuted, and especially since they reimaged a few months back. During a Who "rock block", they played the following songs: "Baba O'Riley", "Pinball Wizard", "Squeeze Box" (all three standard classic rock songs), and...."Eminence Front". That last song has not been common on classic rock stations since it debuted and faded back in '82. They did the same thing with Queen's "Tie Your Mother Down".

WSRV is one of only two full class C FMs in ATL, and the only 100k one. It's probably the strongest FM station in Atlanta, although it's located northeast of town. Being east of Atlanta (near Chateau Elan), it tends to carry to the east very well, not blocked by intown structures.

I find that if you take 100.5, the River and 106.7 you can usually find a decent
song on one of them. 106.7 is my favorite of the three though.

Add in B98 and 97.9 and you've pretty much got all the bases covered 95% of the time.

You've just listed 5 of my 6 presets, the other being Star.

Is there a true classic rock channel in the Atlanta market? When I flipped through, The River was the closest thing I could find.

Rock 100.5 is constantly tweaking their format, between heritage 80s/90s rock and older classic rock. It depends on the week. Sometimes they are all 60s/early 70s, and then the next week it's all grunge and hair.

 

[trusty]

I find that if you take 100.5, the River and 106.7 you can usually find a decent
song on one of them. 106.7 is my favorite of the three though.

Add in B98 and 97.9 and you've pretty much got all the bases covered 95% of the time.

With 106.7, you never have the bass covered! ;D

(Sorry, just couldn't pass that up.)

No, really, isn't River a Classic Hits station (shallow playlist)? Not truly Classic Rock?

 

[mvpeli10]

But why use the call letters WSRV and then never play Stevie Ray Vaughan?

 

[jabba17]

I find that if you take 100.5, the River and 106.7 you can usually find a decent
song on one of them. 106.7 is my favorite of the three though.

Add in B98 and 97.9 and you've pretty much got all the bases covered 95% of the time.

With 106.7, you never have the bass covered! ;D

(Sorry, just couldn't pass that up.)

No, really, isn't River a Classic Hits station (shallow playlist)? Not truly Classic Rock?

They still call themselves "classic hits", but they've definitely jumped in the classic rock deep end lately.

But why use the call letters WSRV and then never play Stevie Ray Vaughan?

Because 96 Rock burned him out in the ATL market in the 80s and 90s. ;D

Seriously, they do every so often.

 

[InSearchOfGear]

But why use the call letters WSRV and then never play Stevie Ray Vaughan?

Ha! Good point!

 

[CBMAN01]

Here's a question. What if Atlanta had a station like WXRC 95.7 The Ride out of Charlotte?

Take a look at their song selection. http://www.yes.com/#WXRC

What do you think about that? Or could the ATL handle it?

(This is what The River should be)

 

[jabba17]

Here's a question. What if Atlanta had a station like WXRC 95.7 The Ride out of Charlotte?

Take a look at their song selection. http://www.yes.com/#WXRC 

What do you think about that? Or could the ATL handle it?

(This is what The River should be) 

I looked at it, sounds like a wide-format AOR station--like if Jack did AOR, with album cuts from the 60s through the 90s, if not the 00s and today.  Interesting.

The question is, can 60s rock coexist with 90s (and maybe newer) rock?  Rock100.5 (and 96 Rock before it) tried it, and it didn't work (or didn't seem to work with Rock100.5, which never stuck with a playlist long enough to see if it would stick, and one can debate whether 96 Rock with a 60s or 70s-to-00s format at the end was better than Project).  It seems like all attempts in ATL to combine 60s/70s classic rock with 90s and newer rock have failed.  But it could be the music mix or other details. 

Heck, back in the mid-80s 96 Rock did the whole "cool it with the heavy metal, we want Pure Rock & Roll" classic rock thing and dumped all the new (80s) rock that didn't have classic rock cred (like new songs by classic artists or bluesy "authentic" types  like the aforementioned Stevie Ray Vaughan).  This left a large format hole in ATL (new AOR) that wasn't fixed until Z-93 flipped from CHR to classic rock, forcing 96 Rock to put more new stuff back in the playlist to differentiate themselves from Z93 (which did a much better job than 96 Rock IMO with classic rock).